Category Archives: Throwing it around

It’s a white Saturday, and we’re snowed in at Grandma’s house. Which means there is plenty of time for reading and writing about baseball stuff with grandma handling the baby. And we’ve seen plenty of links worthy of being linked. Here are a few:

-Yankees Manager Joe Girardi says he’s open to two closers. [NY Daily News]
-The Yankees are sniffing around Yoan Moncada and consider him #1 overall draft talent. [ESPN Yankees Blog]
-Carlos Gonzalez is looking to put a disappointing 2014 behind him quickly. [Denver Post]
-It’s the 25th anniversary of Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects. A neat look back in time. [Baseball America]
-Bruce Bochy had stints put in his heart valves, but he’s feeling better. [MLB.com]
-The Rockies are going to have a new broadcast angle in 2015! [Fangraphs]
-It’s probably been a while since you’ve read up on Byron Buxton, but don’t forget about him. [Twins Daily]
-The top 30 teams to control in MLB the Show ’15, from a fun standpoint. [Operation Sports]

The daily link-dump returns with the first version of it in 2015. Everyone has their eyes towards Super Bowl Sunday, while we look at it as the closing of a chapter and one day closer to Spring Training camps opening. We’re 64 days from Opening Day. We can make it, or so we hope. Here are the links of note on this Sunday:

-Andruw Jones is aiming for a return to Major League Baseball. The guy must need money. [Hardball Talk]
-Chris Davis opens up about his adderrall usage for the first time. [CSN Baltimore]
-Because we missed the Nationals announcing Max Scherzer officially. [Washington Post]
-A deep-dive into which teams in baseball are blazing the scouting trails. [FanGraphs]
-The most five improved teams in the off-season. [MLB.com]
-How will Austin Jackson fare in Seattle in 2015? [Lookout Landing]
-Josh Hamilton’s wife will be entering the reality television world. My wife is excited about it. [Sporting News]
-I’m happy that the Reds locked up Devin Mesoraco long-term. [Cincinnati.com]

There are so many good links we need to put here on this Thursday. It’s not easy running your own business and maintaining your own baseball blog, but someone has to do it. Here are some good links from the past few days that you may have missed, but you should read if you have the time:

-Javier Baez’s first Wrigley Field home run. [Chicago Now]
-A roster of 25 Adam Dunn’s on Out of the Park Baseball. [FanGraphs]
-Jonah Keri takes a look at Bryce Harper’s scary year three struggles. [Grantland]
-Carlos Gonzalez & Troy Tulowitzki, done for the year once again. [Hardball Talk]
-Google has already awarded Mike Trout with the 2014 MVP award. [USA Today]
-Baseball has a new commissioner, and his name is Rob Manfred. [NY Times]
-Joe Posnanski weighs in on Bryce Harper’s 2014 season. [NBC Sports]
-Pedro Martinez wants Clemens and Bonds in the Hall. [Surviving Grady]
-Mike Fiers went off today, 14 strikeouts in six innings. [Brew Crew Ball]
-Building around Giancarlo Stanton is a big priority. [Fish Pond]

Happy ‘back to work’ Monday. Don’t stress, it won’t be long until it’s the weekend; and if you work as hard as we do during the day the week will seem about five minutes long. Here are the links of the day in the baseball world:

-Mike Petriello says it’s time for the Rockies to trade Troy Tulowitzki. [FanGraphs]
-Here’s a GIF of Brewers outfielder Logan Schaefer, eating it while fielding a base hit. [Deadspin]
-Edwin Encarnacion to the DL. [Hardball Talk]
-The Anaheim Angels have won 10 games in a row at home. [OC Register]
-What’s the deal with Mark Appel, the Astros top pitching prospect? [Prospect Pipeline]
-Byron Buxton is back in action. [Minor League Ball]
-Yasiel Puig, NL All-Starter. [Dodgers Now]
-This is a baseball website; but when there’s talk of LeBron James returning to his home state, it gets at least a footnote on the site. [ESPN]

Another June is in the books in life – and with July here the temperature is up in the 90’s just like always and fireworks will soon be on the horizon. Here are a few of the day’s baseball reads from around the net:

-Matt Williams is making the right call playing Denard Span over Danny Espinosa. [FanGraphs]
-Yasiel Puig wants in the home run derby. [Dodgers Now]
-Jeff Lunhow addresses the absurdity of offering Bud Norris for every top prospect in baseball. [Houston Chronicle]
-Bryce Harper got a big knock last night in his return for the Nationals. [Washington Post]
-Joe Pos tells us of the remarkable career of Raul Ibanez. [Hardball Talk]
-Big day for Blue Jay Drew Hutchison on Canada Day in Toronto. [Baseball Musings]
-A detailed post about Xander Bogaerts’ June. [Gammons Daily]
-Domingo Santana was named to the futures game, he was called up to the big leagues today. [Minor League Ball]

Happy Thursday, there’s a jolly slate on tonight and it should be a glorious weekend ahead for baseball. Here were the best baseball reads we found while perusing the internet today:

-Clayton Kershaw threw the finest game that was not a perfect game since 1913. [FanGraphs]
-Matt Williams will be installing an annoying rotation of players for the Washington Nationals when Bryce Harper returns. [Hardball Talk]
-History, Peaks, and Mike Trout (make sure you play with the chart). [FanGraphs]
-More Mike Trout, this time from David Schoenfield. [ESPN SweetSpot]
-Nick Swisher hit a walk-off grand slam earlier this afternoon. [Baseball Musings]
-Talking two MLB Debuts, Heaney and Pino. [Baseball Musings]
-Will the Royals acquire a big time arm to compete with the Tigers stable of starters? [Fox Sports]
-Jayson Stark says that it’s a sellers trade market. [ESPN]

-Here is the Giancarlo Stanton line-drive home run you may have heard about from last night. [Deadspin]
-I listened to the Buster Olney Podcast today, loved the story he told about Tony Gwynn and the nine grains of pain. [ESPNRadio.com]
-It was a great game I watched between the Angels and Indians in Cleveland. [OC Register]
-Bryce Harper is getting close. [Nats Insider]
-I love FanGraphs chats. I ordered a FanGraphs t-shirt late last night, because I am a nerd. [FanGraphs]

Finally, we leave you with this gem of the internet. Here is the 1988 NL All Star Lineup being announced. For some reason, this is just epic.

It’s Memorial Day Sunday, and there’s a great slate of baseball action with the Cincinnati Reds ending the night on Sunday Night Baseball. Here are some links that you might have missed, you can read them on your day off tomorrow:

-‘Slumping’ Mike Trout tied the game last night with a home run in Anaheim. [MLB.com]
-Our buddy, our former teammate, interviewing one of our favorite players of all-time, Adam Dunn. [Next Level Ballplayer]
-Dellin Betances is a rippin’ and a tearin’. [FanGraphs]
-We have to link possibly the catch of the year by Puig the other night in Queens. [Hardball Talk]
-Craig Calcaterra writes a column we loved about why it’s okay to have a favorite team and still dip your toes in other teams’ waters. [Hardball Talk]
-George Springer got his last night. [Crawfish Boxes]
-Manny Ramirez is now a player-coach for the AAA Chicago Cubs affiliate. [Deadspin]
-Thomas Boswell on MLB standings and their standing at Memorial Day. [Washington Post]

We sit just three weeks from legitimate MLB Opening Day and this will be a week filled with fantasy draft prep on our end. We haven’t even came close to reading our Rotoworld guide from cover to cover which is a testament to how busy we’ve been attempting to earn a living. That said, there’s always time for baseball links.

*The “All-Inverted First Letters of Last Names” Team. [FanGraphs]
*Luke Hochevar is having Tommy John, done for the 2014 season. [SI Wire MLB]
*Barry Bonds, back in a Giants uniform. [Pedro Gomez Twitter]
*A great read on Hank Aaron and the real home run record. [Kinja]
*Manny Machado wants a raise. [Baltimore Sun]
*Video inside the Dodgers clubhouse. [Hardball Talk]
*Bryce Harper on his physique. [DC Sports Bog]
*Miguel Cabrera, assaulting pitchers today in Spring Training. Including a home run off Shelby Miller. [MLB.com]
*Should there be an expectation for Mike Napoli’s numbers to dip? [Flagrant Fan]

Four weeks from right now, and it’s Opening Day. This never ending struggle to the finish line got to us a little bit this past weekend. It was one of the most boring Sunday afternoons I’ve ever had. I need to find a non-baseball and football hobby that makes good use of my time. Here are some baseball links from today to eat up some of this time that we’re all sick of killing:

It’s Saturday, and there is actually some baseball going with real Major League players in box scores. And February is done. We’ve also had WWE Network going on our television for like four days straight. We need some real baseball here soon. Three weeks from today, the Dodgers and DBacks open real play in Australia. It cannot get here soon enough. Here’s the daily links:

*Grantland tells you why to appreciate Bryce Harper. [Grantland]
*Dave Brown is a weird dude, but he does the Answer Man thing with Harper. [Big League Stew]
*Underrated Nationals podcast, and a cool site we’ve never seen before today. [Red Porch Report]
*DBacks radio host thinks the team should have plunked Yasiel Puig. [Awful Announcing]
*Will Votto and Bruce be lifetime Reds? C.Trent weighs in. [Cincinnati.com]
*Thoughts on the Reds black Cactus League jerseys? We aren’t a fan. [Sporting News]
*Vin Scully is wonderful. So glad to hear him back and calling baseball. [Deadspin]

We’re now less than 30 days until baseball season officially kicks off. Why the Hell does the off-season have to be so long? We’ll continue to ride it out, and soon we’ll have some real baseball to discuss. With most of the teams in camp now, there are some interesting reads circulating the internet. Here are a few:

-Bryce Harper is ready for 2014, says Thomas Boswell. [Washington Post]
-Andrelton Simmons is the latest Brave to sign an extension. [Hardball Talk]
-Justin Verlander. Sports cars. Is he boinking Kate Upton again? [MLive]
-I always enjoy a good Eno Sarris chat. [Fangraphs]
-Here’s some of the new features for MLB 14 The Show which won’t be released for months still. [Fansided]
-When Prick Managers roamed the earth. [San Francisco Chronicle]
-Mike Trout is in the best shape of his life. [MLB.com]

Happy Monday to all in the baseball kingdom. We hope your fantasy teams are firing on all cylinders and your closers aren’t blowing saves left and right. Slightly shortened MLB slate tonight for your baseball watching, but we’ll be back to normal tomorrow with a completely full slate. Here are some good baseball reads around the internet today.

-David Schoenfield says the Saturday game I saw in Cincinnati was the weekend’s best. [ESPN SweetSpot]
-Is there cause for alarm for Jered Weaver? [Fangraphs]
-C. Trent is impressed with Shin-soo Choo. Who wouldn’t be thus far? [Cincinnati.com Reds Blog]
-Legends are in awe of Bryce Harper. [Washington Post]
-ESPN’s power rankings are out, even though it’s stupid to have them for baseball. [ESPN]